Cars in Germany are getting older. And that's good news!

Automotive experts are raising the alarm! Average age of an automobile in Germany increased by over 3 years in the last 3 decades. Terrifying? Well, I don't think so. I reckon it's actually a good and logical step to take in the current situation in the car industry.

What's all the fuss about?

Basically, Germans stopped buying new cars as often as they used to. As a result, average age of their vehicles has increased from 6.3 years in 1991 to 9.6 years in 2020. If the news wasn't bad enough, report also states (it's in Polish, as I wasn't able to find English nor German version) that nearly one quarter of all cars in Germany are over 15 years old, one-tenth is over 20 years old and 2% is over 30 years old.

As a result, Germans now drive the oldest cars, at least in Western Europe. It is still nothing compared to countries that used to belong to Eastern Bloc. Average age of a car in Poland is almost 14 years, and in Lithuania - nearly 17. However, such a small increase was more than enough to catch the attention of German automotive specialists.

This Merc might be 16 years old by now. Throw that junk away!

This Merc might be 16 years old by now. Throw that junk away!

Experts are petrified and clueless

In their eyes, this increase can be detrimental to car industry, environment and safety. Really? I will go one by one to explain why I think they are talking absolute rubbish.

First one in a line, automotive industry. It isn't going to suffer nearly as much as the experts make you believe. This trend might show up as a small indent in a company's revenue, but in the large scale it doesn't matter. Market in Europe is pretty much saturated at this point and many manufacturers focus their efforts on growing commercial outlets, like China. For example, a big radiator grille on a new BMW 7-series, which has been implemented with Chinese market in mind, as people there like to "be noticed".

Secondly, safety. Despite the increasing number of older cars, which lack the latest and greatest safety equipment, 2019 was the safest year on German roads in about 60 years (which is when they've started recording the numbers). Other countries with ageing cars show similar trends. Conclusion? Old cars aren't that bad for safety.

I don't know about you, but if I had such a car, I would drive way more cautiously, thus safer.

I don't know about you, but if I had such a car, I would drive way more cautiously, thus safer.

Car manufacturers and environment don't go well together

As much as marketing teams can try to convince you, cars aren't good for the environment. If you want to do something eco-friendly - use a bike or public transport. However, since we are on DriveTribe, you probably still want to drive a car. In that case, the best thing to do is probably to keep driving your current ride rather than buying a new one from a dealer.

Switching from a 10 year old car to a new one won't do the environment much good. Emissions have barely decreased in the last decade (and with a recent rise of big SUVs they might have even increased), and production of a new car releases quite a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (for Volvo XC40 - 16.1 tonnes to be exact). If your new car produces 10 grams of CO2 less than its predecessor, you would need to drive about 1600000 kilometres or roughly one million miles to break even. Quite a lot, isn't it?

Scrap your old car and buy this, an automobile well-suited for the times of environmental issues.

Scrap your old car and buy this, an automobile well-suited for the times of environmental issues.

No reason to switch

However, experts "still can't find a definite answer as to why more and more Germans prefer driving old cars to buying new ones". I think I can help them with that.

First of all, there is little to no difference in terms of equipment. Whilst cars have significantly evolved between 1990s and 2000s, the difference between those made in 2010 and in 2020 isn't that big. Current generation of Mazda 6 has started in 2012 and it is still being produced. Second generation of CX-5 is a miniscule upgrade of the first one, as all of the engines are identical and general layout is very similar. Thus, it is hard to justify switching from an old model to a new one. In my opinion, cars already have way too much equipment, so people are just sticking with what they already have.

Secondly, money plays some role here as well. Germans seem to be unwilling to switch their cars regularly as they can do some basic arithmetic. They've worked out that new cars aren't worth losing 50% of their initial value in a depreciation alone. Since they are already used to their current ride and they can't justify all of the trouble associated with selling it and buying a new one, they just continue to drive their trustworthy vehicles.

And honestly, I can't blame Germans for that. In fact, I agree with them 100%. Buying a new petrol car most likely won't help the environment, it will just fill pockets of a CEO of a big company. Maybe if we stop buying new cars whatsoever, manufacturers will make them interesting once again.

I hope you enjoyed the article. If you want to know more, this is an article that inspired me (it's in Polish, but I felt the need to credit the author). If you did, you can leave a like and become a follower. Till next time!